We Once Were Kings
by Black Blood of the Red Rose
Summary: Who knew so much pain and terror could come from a few simple emails? When someone leaks the existence of personifications to the media, the embodiments are forced play a hellish guessing game of finding who is responsible. Soon hounded by the law for crimes they did not commit, everyone realizes that somethings are better left unknown.
1. Chapter 1

**Warning: Dark themes, murder, rape, insanity and possible more will be included in later chapters. But they will _not_ be plot fodder and will be relevant to the story. They will each be dealt with respectfully and tastefully.**

**Pairings: There will be none, but everyone's mind is different so it may be perceived differently to others.**

**Beta: Alitote**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia-Axis Powers**

**x~x~x~O~x~x~x**

_The biggest guru-mantra is: never share your secrets with anybody. It will destroy you._

_~Chanakya_

There was no denying it, World Meetings were naturally unproductive, anarchic events (don't let the fancy business suits fool you) that included, but was not limited to: screaming, taunting, crying, stabbing, sleeping, yelling, flying, drinking, groping, throwing, cursing, fighting, eating, laughing, pranking, dancing, axe battling, and cussing. For the safety of the personifications and the general public, such meetings were held in a bland, windowless room massive enough to harbor all chaos that could be created from gathering over two hundred nations in the same room for more than thirty minutes.

The controlling personification of Germany often took it upon himself to scold the other embodiments and steer the meeting back into a worthwhile direction. Today was different; instead of bellowing at everyone to settle down, he sat frozen in his seat staring at his laptop screen, face narrowed in concentration. Letting out a frustrated sigh, he leaned closer to reread the new email he'd just received, resting his chin in his hand and tapping a finger anxiously against the side of his face.

**. . . . . .**

_We are going to play a game of **who**. We know **who** you are but you don't know **who** we are. The World doesn't know **who** you are and doesn't know who we are. To start the game off, we would like to give the World a headline that's actually interesting for once. So, we will share **who** you are but not who we are. Your job is to figure out **who** we are with the little treats we will leave for the World. It's your choice how the World will come to know **who** you are. You can tell them, or we can. You have three days to share **who** you are; if not, then we will happily do it for you. __Enjoy._

**. . . . . .**

Germany shook his head in thought, debating on whether or not this was merely some trick being pulled by a troublesome nation. As if reading his thoughts, an icon on the corner of his computer screen flashed, alerting that another email had just been received. Opening it, all that had been sent was a downloadable document and a short message.

**. . . . . .**

_Need a little proof? Here's just a fraction of our evidence that proves we know **who** you are. Don't think for one second we are **who** you think we are, because we are far more clever and far more dangerous._

**. . . . . .**

The world power felt a shiver run down his spine as he selected the document and scrolled through a few pages out of the hundred that were there. Each page had at least ten images of one of the nation's personifications posted on it, each photograph was of them from various points in time, ranging from the B.C. times to present day depending on the nation.

His original idea that it was simply a fellow nation pulling a prank was immediately shot down. One laugh wouldn't be enough motivation to create something as complex or time consuming as this.

Quickly copying both emails down on the back of a piece of paper next to him, he turned and shouted over his shoulder, "Estonia!"

Across the room, Estonia nearly jumped two feet in surprise at his name being called. "C-Coming, Mr. Germany!" he stammered in reply. Ignoring Latvia's pleads for him to protect him from Russia, who was smiling innocently a few feet away, the Baltic Nation quickly scuttled through the sea of suits and chaos to where the German sat.

"You are good with computers, right?" Germany asked the shivering nation as he prudently approached.

"Y-Yes," Estonia answered shyly, trying in vain to hide his nervousness by crossing his arms over his chest.

Pushing his chair back and gesturing to his laptop, Germany stared ardently at the Baltic. "Could you trace this email back to the sender?"

"Sure, no problem, Mr. Germany," Estonia replied with a sudden burst of confidence, letting out a short laugh as if he had been asked a ridiculous request. "I live for this sort of stuff." Pulling up another chair, his eyes widened as he read the first email. "Should I be worried about this?"

The German tightly pursed his lips and thought for a moment before shaking his head slightly. "I'm not for sure, but don't think about it for the moment. If it's a problem I will address it with everybody."

Nodding in understandment, Estonia faced the laptop, stretched his fingers and cracked his knuckles, and set to work. Fingers flying skillfully across the keyboard with the occasional tap of the mouse pad, the screen turned bright blue as he typed in a series of complex codes. Over the course a few minutes, he gradually hunched closer and closer to the bright screen until he was only a few inches away and his eyebrows furrowed deeper and deeper in concentration and frustration.

When Estonia's face contorted into a bitter snarl, Germany was instantly at his side, bending forward and resting his elbows on his knees. "What is it?"

"Nothing really," the nation replied with the shake of his head, not breaking his intense stare at the computer. "I'm just more annoyed than anything."

"About what?"

"Well, so far I've traced this through twenty different government securities and servers. If they wanted to cover their tracks, there are far better ways to do this rather than this goose chase. I'm positive that they're doing this just to be assholes."

"Can you still find them?"

"Of course, just give me a few more minutes- HA! NOPE! I'm just that good!" Estonia interrupted himself in victory, shooting up from his seat with a fist pump before returning his attention to the laptop. "I almost got you, you little-"

BBBBZZZAAP!

With a powerful crack the florescent lights flickered off and the meeting room was plunged into the pitch dark, causing the majority of the nations to yelp in surprise and the rest to curse senselessly.

Surprising and terrifying all personifications, Estonia's unbecoming bellows of rage overpowered all noise. "NO! I WAS THIS CLOSE!" A bang echoed through the room as he sent a swift kick to the underside of the table in frustration. "HOW IN THE HELL DID THEY DO THAT?!"

With a giant pop and a hum of energy, one by one the lights flickered back on one by one. Instinctively, every nation fell silent and stared in shock and confusion at the desperate Baltic, who was now leaning over the laptop, vehemently tapping the spacebar impaitently as he waited for it to reboot.

Clearing his throat, Germany clamped a strong hand on Estonia's shoulder and asked in a reticent voice. "Is there anyway you can try again?"

"No!" Estonia snapped, throwing his hands in the air and looking at the super power as he had just asked the stupidest question in the world. He gave a frustrated wave at the computer."They got a virus on your computer, probably through that document you downloaded. It ate away everything and replaced it with- with cupcake recipes. Who the hell does that?!"

After a moment of confusion, Germany shook it away with a slight shake of his head and asked, "Are you sure that there's no way to get it back?"

"Not even the slightest," Estonia crossed his arms and answered with a sharp glare, noxious venom seeming to drip from each word.

Rising from his seat in a surprisingly collected manner, Germany straightened his suit jacket and cleared his throat, eyeing each shell-shocked nation sternly. "Everyone, if you would get back in your seats, I have important news to share with you all and if you interrupt me I will end you."

Despite the grumbles of annoyance and bewilderment, every personification eventually returned to their designated seats at the huge conference table in a surprisingly quiet manner.

From there, Germany explained the details of the emails and document he got sent and the events that followed. Fortunately, he only had to throw a stapler at Denmark's head once through his whole explanation, effectively diminishing any other nation's idea to interrupt.

"So, what is everybody's verdict on the situation?" Germany questioned, his eyes steadily scanning the sea of nations.

After a tense couple of seconds, a few hands skeptically rose in the air. With an almost hesitant nod, Germany signaled for Austria to speak.

"How are we sure this is not some silly prank?" The Austrian questioned sternly, his voice heavy with his thick accent and sophisticated tone, as he momentarily shot an accusing glare at a certain albino Prussian a few seats down from him.

At this Prussia shot up from his chair, stabbing his index finger at Austria and opening his mouth to speak against the implication. But before he could speak, Germany bellowed, "Austria! Prussia! Now is not the time to childishly blame each other! There are far easier ways to pull a joke on everyone. Besides, the set up and execution of this is far too complicated for a nation to achieve."

"Really? Then who should we suspect? Our own citizens? We all know that once they know who we are they're too loyal or too afraid to go and blab about it." Prussia snapped smugly.

"If anybody should be taking the blame it should be that American bastard!" Romano interjected, crossly ignoring Spain and Italy's whines for him to calm down.

"Me?!" America cried in outrage, staring at Romano as if he had just grown a second head.

"You're the only one who could turn off the lights like that! This is your country!"

"So?! That doesn't mean I did this! I'm the hero, remember? Heroes know boundaries! Right Canadia?" America's offended look switched to a bright grin within a second as he swung his arm around his twin and wrapped Canada into a bone crushing grip.

"Ow, America!" the usually invisible nation quietly pleaded, making futile attempts to wiggle out of and swat at America's constricting arm. "No, stop-"

"AHAHAHAHA!"

As if causing a chain reaction, the entire room suddenly erupted into chaos as the majority of nations shouted allegations at each other while the quieter nations attempted to hide and refrain from speaking.

Germany silently stared in disappointment and anger at the embodiments, who were all at each other's throats. Now, the German felt ridiculous to think that, for once, everyone could act like civilized adults.

Halting all commotion, a high pitched yelp, followed by heavy thud and a pained grunt, suffused the room.

"What the bloody hell are you doing here?!" England shouted harshly, turning his attention away from strangling France to chastising Sealand.

Acting as if he hadn't just fallen from the ceiling and onto the meeting table, the ambitious personification jumped to his feet and into a confident stance with his feet spread apart and his hands on his hips. "I'm here to be recognized as a country, you English jerk-"

"Why on earth would you come through the air vents?!" The angry Brit twisted his head to his right to glare at America. "Why didn't you stop him?!"

The American blinked himself out of his daze, still frozen with Canada in headlock, and childishly stuck out his tongue. "Why is everything my fault?"

"This is your bloody building in your bloody country!"

"Whatever man, if the kid's here to annoy you, then he's more than welcome to stay."

"You-"

"As my first step in being recognized," Sealand interrupted with beaming smile and a devilish gleam in his eye. " I will give my opinion! I think we should wait and let these meanie heads do whatever they want when we run out of time. If it's real, then either way we'll be found out and if it's not then it's obvious that the entire thing was a fake."

And that's just what the nations did, much to the dismay of the elder nations who were skeptically on taking advice from a kid.

If only they knew how much pain and terror would come from a few emails.

** x~x~x~O~x~x~x**

**Legit, dudes. The British intelligence agency M16 successfully completed "Operation Cupcake" by hacking an al-Qaeda website by replacing 67 pages of bomb-making instructions with the web page recipes "The Best Cupcakes in America".**

**Yep! I finally did, people! I finally achieved my goal of posting a revealed story. I've been sitting this idea for ever and now it's finally here! :D**

**Hope you enjoyed this first chapter and leave a review about your thoughts.**

**Please leave a review. I like editing and we need to keep this one inspired to write :D ~Her Beta**


	2. Chapter 2

**Beta: Alitote**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia- Axis Powers**

**x~x~x~O~x~x~x**

_Do not share the knowledge with which you have been blessed with everyone in general, as you do with some people in particular; and know that there are some men in whom Allah, may He he glorified, has placed hidden secrets, which they are forbidden to reveal.  
><span>~Ali ibn Abi Talib<span>  
><em>

America's let out a moan and smacked his lips as he snuggled deeper into the blankets, wrapping the navy blue comforter tighter around his shoulder and burying his face further into his pillow. Rolling to the side and letting out a giant snore, he balanced on the bed's edge for a blissful moment before crashing to the floor with a heavy thud.

"Geesh," he groaned, sitting up from the carpet floor and rubbing the back of his pounding head.

After letting out a loud yawn and stretching his back, he blinked away his drowsiness and squinted to see the digital clock. He let our an exaggerated groan: he had woken up two hours earlier than his usual time; wasting two precious hours of his sleep. With five minutes spent untangling himself from the comforter his legs dragged off the bed, he reluctantly stood up and slipped on his glasses.

He glanced down at his attire and shrugged. "Meh, it's balls a.m."

So, on the great nation of the United States of America pounded down the stairs to the kitchen at ten in the morning dressed in a plain white t-shirt and soft purple pajama bottoms with green alien heads scattered on them. As if in zombie-like state, he retrieved a deep red ceramic mug from one of the upper cupboards and poured himself some freshly brewed black coffee, making a mental note to thank tony for his morning dose of caffeine.

Slipping out the front door, he shuffled across the lush green front lawn to the south side of his two-story farmhouse as he slowly sipped at his coffee. Rounding the corner, his eyes lightened significantly. Just a yard away was his favorite part of the morning: the trampoline. Taking one last giant swig of coffee, he rested the mug on the soft grass and rolled onto the trampoline with a pleasant sigh. Sure it was fun to jump wildly and perform flips on the bounce mat, but on fair weathered mornings, like this, America enjoyed resting on it and staring up at the sky, picking out crazy shapes and animals out of the puffy white clouds.

"Hey! He's over there!" A male voice hollered, sending America's daydreams crashing down.

Bolting straight up, immediately snapping out of his daydreaming, America saw a mob of well-dressed reporters and lanky cameramen racing down the gravel driveway toward him.

"Shit," America muttered under his breath before vaulting off the trampoline. Slipping on the dewy grass, he snatched up his half-drank coffee and dashed back to the house, cursing under his breath when the hot beverage splashed on the his arm.

"Whoa! Run, Tony!" he called to his alien friend standing in the entrance's doorway. Scooping up the grey being as he whizzed through the door, he stumbled to a halt inside and slammed it shut.

Feeling the door shudder under him as the pressmen pounded against the wood, he quickly locked the deadbolt.

"Mr. Jones! America!"

"Are you harboring an alien?"

"Is it true? Are you the personification of the United States?"

"Can you come out for an interview?"

America sprinted to his living room, letting out a yelp when he saw that the wolfish mob had followed him and were now pounding on the giant window in the lounge.

"Tony, don't! You can't shoot them!" He shrieked as he wrestled a laser gun from the alien before hastily closing the thick red curtains.

For a second, the nation froze and thought about what to do.

_Hide out until they go away? Definite no, heroes didn't hide. __Sick Tony on them? Nope, too many injuries. Sneak out? No, America doesn't run away. Hide until they go away? Definitely no, heroes don't hide. Wait. Heroes... equals awesome... and awesome equals the Awesome Trio!_

America let out a hardy laugh at his brilliant idea as he scampered over his leather couch and cluttered coffee table for the telephone on top of the TV stand.

After painfully waiting four rings, his friend finally picked up.

"Hallo?"

"Oh my god, Prussia! Dude, I need you and Denmark to back me up, pronto."

"Woah, what?! What do you need the awesome me and the less awesome him to back you up for?"

"Because it's real!" America elaborated frantically (although it wasn't much of an explanation). He sent a glance over at the curtain covered window the news anchors were flocking, his eyes growing wide as his panic level rose. He was now jumping on the spot and waving around his free hand, trying to release the rigid, stinging feeling that prickled through his entire body. Every nerve was screaming for him to run. "Come _on_, bro!"

"What's real?!"

"Those weird threats we got! I've got my press trying to break down my window as we speak!"

There was shuffling on the other side of the phone, followed by a yowl of pain.

"I coming for ya man!" Denmark's voice boomed through the phone. "I'll send an army of Legos raining down on them! The Awesome Trio will never- GAH!"

With more scuffling noises, Prussia finally spoke again. "Keep that dumpkopf away!" His voice echoed through the phone, sounding fainter and more distant than normal; he was obviously yelling for Norway to keep Denmark under control before turning back to the phone. "America, that's what this meeting is for!"

"What? What meeting?"

"The one where we we're suppose to discuss what's going on. We all left our hotels before the press could show up."

"Why didn't anybody tell me?"

"You should've gotten a phone call from mien bruder about this' everyone else did. We thought you were already on your way over to our normal meeting place in the White House."

"Dude, I sleep like a dead rock-"

"A dead rock?"

"-I don't wake up for things like a buzzing cellphone!"

"Shit's gotten real for you then," Prussia snapped, his suddenly harsh tone making America flinch. "Just get your ass down here."

"That's what I'm trying to do!" America whined, throwing his head back an tossing his free arm up in exasperation. "I'm stuck-"

_Bang!_

In one moment, America was blinded by flash of green light, sending his mind scattering. In the next, when the colorful dots dancing across his vision had cleared, he was standing in the center of the world meeting, hundreds of agitated nations and micro-nations glaring at him from their seats at the huge table to his right.

A sudden dizziness suddenly overtook the American, causing and he stumbled back a few steps and put a hand to his pounding temple. "Holy shit... What happened?" From behind him, England appeared and solidly slapped him on his shoulder. "Ow!"

"Bloody fine sleepers, asshat," the Englishman scowled, crossing his arms sourly before snapping at America once more. "You're lucky Romania and I were able to use magic to get you out of there!"

"Whoa, dude. First of all, they're called _pajamas_ not sleepers and you're just jealous you can't have them."

"Like hell-"

"Secondly! Magic isn't real, old man! Thirdly, how was I supposed to know-"

"Alright you guys," Prussia interrupted, sliding in between the two and slinging his arm around America's shoulder, steering him to the rest of the nations. "Go release your sexual tensions some other times."

"Ew! Why would you-"

"Let's get this thing rolling, West! I wanna see how much the World knows about my awesomeness!" The albino nation cut off America, waving to his brother to start talking. "I wanna see what the World knows about my awesomeness!" He finished as he and America sat between an overexcited Dutchman rambling about how the awesome trio will live long and prosper and a half-awake Greek idly stroking the calico cat in his lap.

Once England grumpily took his spot in between Romania and Mexico, Germany shook Italy from his arm and rose from his seat.

Clearing his throat, he announced. "Before we start discussing our plan, I think we should know what information the humans have been informed of. So, if you all would tune into your own television and radio stations we can compare our information."

Replying with a grunt or a nod, each nation complied. They each pulled into themselves, some laying their heads or their upper bodies on the tables and covering their heads with their arms, while others crossed their arms across their chest and closed their eyes, looking as if they were taking a quick nap.

Their surroundings faded, until their only focus was on the web of media throughout their countries. Voices of garbled radio reports

Voices suffused and echoed in their minds and snapshots of TV stations, news related websites, social media networks flashing across their vision. With a twitch of their eye, they switched back and forth between hundreds of news stations within mere seconds. Despite the garbled reports of a radio overlapping with the dramatic speeches on TV and images of newsrooms and Facebook pages blurring with another, they all were easily able to process the information.

Feeling as if they were being dragged up from the bottom of the pool, one by one, each embodiment was dragged back into reality. The eldest nations, such as China and San Marino, returned from their "trip" first and the rest followed by oldest to youngest, though a few of the more spontaneous nations awoke at random times only to fall under once more and the versatile countries awoke every few minutes soon.

Now that all of the personifications were awake,Germany once again took charge. "Now, I would like to see a show of hands as to how many of you are absolutely certain that your media knows of at least your existence." Every nation's hand rose.

"Wunderbar," Germany sarcastically muttered under his breath, not that anybody else could hear as they instantly began talking to one another as soon as the first hand was put into the air.

"Okay, everyone listen up!" the German yelled for what seemed the hundredth time today. Like usual, the room fell silent; but rather than the silence be filled with a bored, anxious hum, this time an the weight of the forbidding and unfathomable future rested on their shoulders. "First, we must deal with the World and then with trying to catch the person who exposed us. All those who oppose this strategy please speak now."

The room stayed silent.

**. . . . . . . . . .**

To be honest, China was a little bit pissed. Okay, a lot of bit pissed off.

Everything with even a bit of secrecy he had to maintain against every human being on the planet know about his existence for the past twenty centuries was destroyed. And with what? A post on Twitter, a like on Facebook, or a click of the TV remote.

No matter how much he wanted to tell a select few of his people who he truly was, he couldn't. While the majority nations shared their invaluable secret to soldiers dying on the battle or to little boys and girls who needed hope and comfort, he didn't. He knew from experience how easy it was for a human to slip up. How easy it was to share a few words to a loved one who they thought could be trusted.

All it took was one bird to start a plague.

So when he stepped into a conference room that could hold over three hundred personifications and humans, he clenched his hands into a tight fist that cracked a few joints. Fortunately for him, his hands hands were covered by the long silky sleeves of his red uniform and his face betrayed no emotion.

What happened next, frankly, was an almost terrifying shock to China and the other personifications. Once every embodiment had entered the room, every human- the reporters, camera men, security guards- dropped like flies and fell to the floor unconscious with dull thuds.

The nations jumped in surprise; a few spitting out a few choice words that would no doubt be censored out over the live broadcast, some squeaking out girlish screams, and others hopelessly trying to muffle their burst of laughter. Once they regained their composure, the everyone rushed to go check on their comatose people, instantly being drawn towards the who had a nationality or blood line that traced back to that nation's country.

**x~x~x~O~x~x~x**

**Thank you all for the follows and the reviews! They're the only thing that keeps me going.**

**Don't fret about the length, my dearies. This chapter will get a lot longer from here on out.**

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter and will leave a review.**


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